James,
I have a book called "Car Suspension and Handling" by Donald Barstow,
published in 1980 by Pentech Press, Ltd. of Plymouth, Devon, England. There
are lots of equations and some of it was sleep inducing (at least for me),
however, one of the lasting impressions I gained is that a well located live
rear axle is only bested by a very well designed and executed independent or
de Dion setup. I imagine the books you read conveyed the tremendous number
of interactive variables involved. Having said that, making it work and
standing back to look at your creation would be cool.
I remember when Triumph introduced the TR4A-IRS and the magazine road
testers weren't convinced the IRS setup was better than, or even as good as,
the live-axle model. It seems to me the impression was that the ride
quality with IRS was different (but not necessarily better due to the very
limited amount of rebound travel inherent in the cobbled TR4-IRS design),
and that one of the prime benefits of IRS, improved adhesion on rough
surfaces, was negated due to the bump steer effects. It took me awhile to
get used to the feel of my TR6's handling at the limit, especially at high
speeds, largely I think due to the bump steer effect of the IRS. I used to
have a Healey 3000 that was very predictable and chuckable, very free of
vices, fun to drift, and it had, of course, a live rear axle. It didn't
much like bumps in corners, but there were no noticeable rear-end steering
effects. Do any listers have experience with TR4s with and without IRS?
Gary
'73 CF10801U
----- Original Message -----
From: James Franks <jimmble@adelphia.net>
To: Skip Montanaro <skip@pobox.com>
Cc: 6pack <6pack@autox.team.net>
Sent: Thursday, October 24, 2002 7:54 PM
Subject: Re: Weber Carbs and EFI
> I just got my Megasquirt EFI kit in the mail last week. I also got a
> wideband O2 kit to use to tune with. I have lots of good ideas (maybe just
> lots of ideas) and just need time to play. I may get to it next spring,
> depending on how my hotrod project progresses. I'd like to get the motor
> mounted and rear suspension done before I go to work on my 'normal' TR250.
>
> BTW.... I got a ride in Dale Knapke's awesome 2.3 liter 4 cyl turbo TR6
last
> week. What a hoot that was! He really can bang thru the gears in that
thing.
> You never will meet a nicer guy. We yakked for a couple of hours, and I
took
> pictures of his 4-link 9" Ford rear setup. I got a lot of ideas, and a
whole
> new enthusiasm for my own project. It's nice to have a resource like Dale
to
> draw on. He really has done a first class job on his conversion. I didn't
> even mind the 4 hour drive going back home! Many thanks to the List for
> alerting me to the existence of Dale and his car.
>
> I'm still thinking of trying to build a double wishbone independent rear
> setup based on Ford Supercoupe rearend, axles and hubs that I have. It
> would be neat to have my car be a bit more of a 'corner-carver' than
Dale's
> drag car is, but setting up the geometry has me a bit nervous. Can anyone
> suggest what kind of specs I should set up around? Anti-dive, caster,
> camber, toe? I have read a couple of books, including "How to make your
car
> handle", but I'm thinking of just copying a production car with a similar
> setup,,,, say Miata specs for starters, and making everything as
adjustable
> as possible. Anyone? Bob?
>
> Does anyone know of a reasonably inexpensive suspension design software
that
> would work to help design this thing?
>
> Jim
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Skip Montanaro" <skip@pobox.com>
> To: "Robert M. Lang" <lang@isis.mit.edu>
> Cc: "Paula J. Graffam" <pjgraffam@juno.com>; <6pack@autox.team.net>
> Sent: Thursday, October 24, 2002 9:16 PM
> Subject: Re: Weber Carbs
>
>
> > >> Anyone care to give an opinion about Triple Weber carbs vs. ZS ?
> Is
> > >> anyone driving with Webers and are you pleased or not?
> >
> > Bob> Hmmmm. One of my hot-button topics. Sure, I'll provide
opinions.
> >
> > [ much good stuff elided ]
> >
> > Seems to me that if you just gotta have three carbs, Goodparts' triple
ZS
> > would fit the bill, be much cheaper than Webers, simpler to setup, and
> > probably be more atypical, providing more "oohs" and "aahs" when people
> look
> > under your hood.
> >
> > There were some folks on the list who were going to experiment with some
> EFI
> > (maybe back in the spring?). Whatever became of that? Now that would
> have
> > cachet...
> >
> > --
> > Skip Montanaro - skip@pobox.com
> > http://www.mojam.com/
> > http://www.musi-cal.com/
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